The present invention relates to a liquid crystal device including a pair of substrates and liquid crystal sealed in a space between the substrates, and to a method for manufacturing the same. The present invention also relates to an electronic apparatus composed of the liquid crystal device.
Recently, liquid crystal devices have been widely used in various types of electronic apparatuses, such as mobile phones and portable information terminal units. In many cases, the liquid crystal devices are used to display visible information, such as letters and numeric characters.
As a conventional liquid crystal device, a liquid crystal device such as that shown in FIG. 12 has been known. The liquid crystal device is formed by joining a first substrate 51a and a second substrate 51b by means of an annular sealing member 52. A plurality of linear first electrodes 53a are formed on the inner surface of the first substrate 51a, and a plurality of external terminals 54 are formed on a section of the first substrate 51a protruding to the outside of the second substrate 51b. The first electrodes 53a are individually jointed to the external terminals 54. In addition, a plurality of linear second electrodes 53b opposing the first electrodes 53a in an orthogonal state are formed on the inner surface of the second substrate 51b opposing the first substrate 51a. 
In an actual liquid crystal device, a great number of first electrodes 53a, second electrodes 53b and external terminals 54 are formed on the substrate 51a or 51b. In FIG. 12, however, several of them are shown in order to make the structure understandable.
The sealing member 52 serves as an anisotropic conductive member by mixing a plurality of conductive particles into an adhesive agent. The second electrodes 53b on the second substrate 51b are routed to a section of the sealing member 52 where the external terminals 54 are located, and are subjected to conductive connection to the external terminals by the conductive particles included in the sealing member 52. According to the conventional liquid crystal device, however, the conductive particles are mixed into the whole area of the sealing member 52 and therefore, routing lines extending from the first electrodes 53a and routing lines extending from the second electrodes 53b cannot be subjected to cross wiring or wiring in such a manner that they linearly overlap (hereinafter, referred to as cross wiring and the like) within an area where the sealing member 52 exists. Consequently, there is a problem in that pattern design of a wiring pattern is greatly limited by the existence of the sealing member 52.
A liquid crystal device having a structure shown in FIG. 13 is also known as a conventional liquid crystal device. According to the conventional liquid crystal device shown therein, a sealing member 62 is formed of an insulating adhesive agent, and conductive members 61 are provided at the area that is both outside the sealing member 62 and between the first substrate 51a and the second substrate 51b. Routing lines extend from the second electrodes 53b on the second substrate 51b across the sealing member 62 and extend to the conductive members 61 and are individually subjected to conductive connection to the external terminals 54 on the first substrate 51a. 
According to this conventional device, since the sealing member 62 does not have conductivity, the routing lines of the first electrodes 53a and the routing lines of the second electrodes 53b can be subjected to cross wiring and the like within an area of the sealing member 62. Therefore, this conventional device provides the advantage that the versatility of possible pattern design increases. According to this conventional device, however, since the conductive members 61 should be formed outside the sealing member 62, there is a problem in that a useless space which is formed around an effective display area of the liquid crystal device and which does not contribute to display, a so-called frame area or parting area, becomes enlarged.
The present invention has been achieved in consideration of the above-described problems of the conventional liquid crystal devices, and an object is to enable outer dimensions, particularly the size of a so-called parting area around an effective display area to be reduced despite the use of a conductive member regarding a liquid crystal device of a type in which electrodes formed on one substrate are subjected to conductive connection to external terminals formed on the other substrate using conductive members, and to enable a complicated pattern design including cross wiring and the like regarding electrode patterns formed on a pair of substrates.
(1) In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal device comprising a first substrate having a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of external terminals; a second substrate having a plurality of second electrodes opposing the first electrodes; and an annular sealing member for joining the first substrate and the second substrate to each other, wherein the sealing member includes a conductive section having the function of conductive connection and a non-conductive section having no function of conductive connection, and wherein the plurality of second electrodes on the second substrate are individually subjected to conductive connection to the plurality of external terminals on the first substrate via the conductive section of the sealing member.
According to this liquid crystal device, the sealing member is divided into two sections: the conductive section and the non-conductive section, and the second electrodes on the second substrate and the external terminals on the first substrate are subjected to conductive connection to each other by the conductive section. Therefore, the necessity for preparing a special conductive member in addition to the sealing member is eliminated, and consequently, the outer dimensions of the liquid crystal device can be reduced. In particular, the so-called parting area of the liquid crystal can be reduced. In addition, since the section of the sealing member other than the conductive section is the non-conductive section, a complicated electrode pattern including cross wiring and the like can be formed over a wide region of the liquid crystal device.
(2) Next, a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device according to the present invention is a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal device comprising a first substrate having a plurality of first electrodes and a plurality of external terminals; a second substrate having a plurality of second electrodes opposing the first electrodes; and an annular sealing member for joining the first substrate and the second substrate to each other. This manufacturing method is characterized in that {circle around (1)} a conductive section of the sealing member is formed on one of the first substrate and the second substrate, that {circle around (2)} a non-conductive section of the sealing member is formed on the other one of the first substrate and the second substrate, and that {circle around (3)} the first substrate and the second substrate are secured to each other in such a manner that the conductive section and the non-conductive section are jointed to form the annular sealing member.
If the manufacturing method is used, the liquid crystal of the above (1) can be reliably manufactured without undergoing a specially complicated process.
(3) Regarding the manufacturing method of the above (2), the conductive section of the sealing member may be provided in a state of being jointed to the plurality of external terminals on the first substrate or to the plurality of second electrodes on the second substrate. According to this method, an operation for forming the conductive member of the sealing member on one of the substrates can be executed very simply.
(4) Regarding the manufacturing method of the above (2), the conductive section of the sealing member is provided in a dotted state in correspondence with each of the plurality of external terminals formed on the first substrate or in correspondence with each of the plurality of second electrodes formed on the second substrate.
If the conductive section of the sealing member is provided in a state of being jointed to a plurality of electrodes as described in the above (3), the operation for forming the conductive section is simplified. On the other hand, however, a clot of the conductive section, for example, a clot of conductive particles may be generated between adjacent electrodes, resulting in a short circuit between the electrodes or the like and incapability of a normal pixel control.
In contrast, if the conductive section of the sealing member is formed in a dotted state, i.e., individually in correspondence with each of the electrodes or the like as in this embodiment, the clot of the conductive particles is not generated between the electrodes or the like and therefore, the short circuit can be reliably prevented from being caused between the electrodes or the like.
According to this embodiment, a sealed gap, a so-called cell gap must be formed by the sealing member between a pair of substrates for sealing liquid crystal. Thus, even if the conductive section of the sealing member is initially formed in a dotted state, the dotted section must be jointed to each other so as to exhibit a sealing action after a pair of substrates have been secured to each other. Accordingly, the size of the dot of the conductive section is set to a sufficient size for effectuating such a sealing action.
(5) According to the present invention, there is provided an electronic apparatus comprising a liquid crystal device including a pair of substrates; and liquid crystal sealed in a space between the substrates, wherein the liquid crystal device is the liquid crystal device as described in the above (1). As the electronic apparatus, for example, a mobile phone, a portable information terminal unit, or other various types of electronic apparatuses may be considered.